'Batting always one step behind' but captain Shai Hope happy with bowling attack

West Indies captain Shai Hope has bemoaned his side's inability to put together a complete game with the bat after they were swept 5-0 by Australia in the T20I series.

The visitors completed a three-wicket victory in the final match in St Kitts, after West Indies had been bowled out for 170 - the lowest total of the series. They reduced Australia to 60 for 4 inside the powerplay, and Akeal Hosein later took 3 for 17, but the loss of Alzarri Joseph to injury one ball into his third over removed a vital part of their attack.

The first three matches of the series had been characterised by West Indies being unable to build on promising starts. In the opening match in Jamaica, they were 123 for 1 in the 13th over but managed just 189. In the second, 63 for 0 became 172 for 8. When the series moved to St Kitts, Hope and Brandon King put on 125 for the first wicket, but the middle order couldn't flourish.

In the last two matches, they somewhat overturned their poor starts - 67 for 4 became 205 and 9 and 32 for 3 became 170 - but on all occasions, Australia were able to get home with room to spare.

"I just didn't think we put together a proper batting display," Hope said at the post-match presentation. "We either started well and finished poorly or the other way around. When you're playing against quality opposition like Australia, you've got to put things together for a more complete game.

"As a batting group, we didn't really give ourselves the best chance to put a big score on the board consistently. And that's probably where we fell short… We've always been one step behind the eight ball."

Hope wore a rueful smile when asked about the fact that his team didn't get the chance to chase once in the series as Mitchell Marsh won all five tosses.

"I think here in the Caribbean, we all know the stats show chasing is always the better thing to do," he said. "Whether it's the dew factor, wind factor, you always have that scoreboard in front of you, so you have an idea of how to go about the chase. But it's something that I can't control. Unfortunately, I didn't win any [tosses]… It's just one of those things for us."

However, despite the scoreline, Hope did see signs of encouragement from his bowling attack as the series developed: Jediah Blades, the young left-arm seamer, took three wickets in the fourth match. Alzarri Joseph's pace made an impact in the final game too, before he was forced off the field. Hosein impressed after a belated entry with the ball on Monday.

"We understood the struggles of bowling spin here on this ground and surface," he said. "But [Hosein] is a quality bowler and we just backed him to come and do the job, and he did exceptionally well for that four-over spell. Just unfortunate that, again, we didn't have as many runs on the board as we would have liked.

"I still must commend the guys for the effort that they showed in the back end, to give ourselves a chance to win the game. But once you don't have that many runs on the board, then you [have] got to hope everything goes perfectly in the field. It just didn't happen for us."

There is not much time for Hope and his team to reflect. West Indies face a quick turnaround before they play Pakistan in the first of the three T20Is in Florida on Thursday.

"I think that we're a little bit clearer in the bowling unit," Hope said of what can be taken from this series. "We certainly executed a lot better than we did in the first few games. We've got to put this one behind us, and look ahead for the Pakistan series, and see where we can get that combination and that success going."